Words To Live By

The "Plus and Minus" - Steve J. Garrod

I truly believe that behavioral life today is composed of a series of pluses and minuses. It sounds like a simplistic concept but carries so many outlying repercussions associated with it.

Human behavior is driven by "what works" or "what doesn't work". This applies to nearly any area of one's life and in nearly any circumstance. This concept dates back far back to Pavlov's dog and has been proven to date with time. It all began with a very simple theory :

Behavior x is positively rewarded with outcome a.
Behavior y is negatively punished with outcome b.

The theory is basic but it expands to every aspect of life. In this year 2002, why do we do what we do? Why does one smoke? Why does one drink? Why does one exercise on a regular basis? Why does one associate with a particular social group? . . . Each of us performs a specific action in return for the reward that we get. We would not perform the action again should it render negative results.

Any one of us will try a certain action until it produces a negative consequence. Once it does, we will not reproduce that action. If we are rewarded for that action (either physically or emotionally), then it will persist.

We must look at every action in our life and determine how it has originated. If it is a positive phenomenon in our life (i.e. exericse) then we must focus on what is rewarding about it and expound upon it to thus increase its likelihood of endurance. If it is a negative phenomenon, then we must punish ourselves for reproducing that action or reward ourselves for not performing it - in a positive way.

This simple concept is explained in greater detail in Dr. Phil McGraw's book "Life Strategies" with his Life Law #3 : People do what works.

With this aforementioned information, what are you doing in life that is working for you? What are you doing that is not working? What outcomes are encouraging either the positive or negative behavior in your life? It is well worth looking into!

ALL KNOWLEDGE IS POWER

The most successful people in life
are the one's with the best information.
People with power are people who know how to get things done.
Knowing how to do something is sometimes
virtually the same as having done it.

When you educate yourself,
you build the power to accomplish your goals.
This power comes from knowing how to do something.
Power is the product of understanding.

Knowledge will come to you
by having your eyes and mind always open.
There is no knowledge that is not power.

In the land of the blind, the one eyed man is king.

DESIRE IS THE STARTING POINT OF SUCCESS

The first thing that will contribute to reaching your goal
is that you simply want to reach it badly enough.
You must learn how to desire with sufficient intensity to be successful.

If you have the desire you have the power to attain success.
You can really have anything you want in life if you go after it.
But you have to want it.

As a drowning soul desires air,
as a shipwrecked person craves fresh water,
so must you feel that intense, eager, insistent, demanding,
ravenous desire for your success.

Your desire for success must be so strong within you
that it becomes the very breath of your life.
It must be your first thought when you wake up,
and your last thought when you go to bed at night.

You can have anything you want if you go after it with intensity.

This Scroll is Taken from Og Mandino's

"The Greatest Secret in the World"

I encourage you to pick up a copy of it, or even any of his work... you will be truly delighted and changed in your thoughts.

THE SCROLL MARKED V

I will live this day as if it is my last.

And what shall I do with this last precious day which remains in my keeping? First, I will seal up its container of life so that not one drop spills itself upon the sand. I will waste not a moment mourning yesterday's misfortunes, yesterday's defeats, yesterday's aches of the heart, for why should I throw good after bad.

Can sand flow upward in the hour glass? Will the sun rise where it sets and set where it rises? Can I relive the errors of yesterday and right them? Can I call back yesterday's wounds and make them whole? Can I become younger than yesterday? Can I take back the evil that was spoken, the blows that were struck, the pain that was caused? No. Yesterday is buried forever and I will think of it no more.